


what's in a name

by saunatonttu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, aija gets sappy after midnight, unapologetic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:16:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3719974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saunatonttu/pseuds/saunatonttu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tetsurou laughed into Kei’s blond hair, sounding giddy, and Kei thought that if it hadn’t before, his heart definitely beat harder now. “I just really like saying your name, y’know? Now that I can.” </p><p> </p><p>[alternatively: Tetsurou and Kei snuggle in the dark, and there's something sweet in the way he repeats Kei's name.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	what's in a name

"Kei."

Kei didn't respond, but that didn't mean he didn't hear Tetsurou's whisper of his name loud and clear.

"Kei."

Kei didn't label himself as a romantic or a sentimentalist, but, shit, did it make his chest tingle when Tetsurou's voice dripped with such disgusting amount of affection. It made the feeling of drowning feel  _pleasant —_ that was weird. Maybe it shouldn't be called drowning; perhaps floating was a more accurate description of how Kei felt.

"Stop calling my name already," Kei mumbled, the fluttering feeling in his chest only worsening when Tetsurou's soft lips touched at the back of his neck, nose nuzzling at the short strands of Kei's blond hair. "Go to sleep, asshole," he added, but his words lacked the decisive force to make Tetsurou do just that.

"So irritable," Tetsurou laughed, his voice tired but loving to the point where Kei couldn't bear to look at him. Luckily, in this spooning position, he wasn't face-to-face with him, so that saved him from that embarrassment. "I just like saying your name, you know?"

Kei spluttered, groaning incoherently afterwards as he shoved his face into his pillow. " _Shut the hell up._ "

Shit, this was still too new for him to be used to this — the proximity between them (physical  _and_  emotional), and the genuine wonder that he always heard in the undertones of Tetsurou's voice, as if saying  _holy shit I can't believe I'm with you_  but not in a fed-up way. Rather it was in that  _oh god I'm so lucky_  way, and Kei hadn't thought anyone could think like that about him.

Tetsurou laughed against Kei's neck, the sound muffled against the pale skin and the vibrations tickled at Kei, who squirmed uncomfortably. He wasn't used to  _that_  either.

The hand resting on Kei's hipbone moved up and down slowly, soothing with its lazy movements. "You can shut me up if you wanna," Tetsurou said teasingly, and Kei could guess what kind of smirk was on Tetsurou's lips. "You're a smart guy, after all."

"I'm not turning around just to kiss your stupid face," Kei grumbled, voice muffled into his pillow. He wasn't going to turn around to kiss Tetsurou, but that was mostly because of how hot his face felt currently. "Seriously, get to sleep. We're not even supposed to be sharing a bed, but since my brother's visiting…."

"So, you don't  _want_  to share a bed with me?" Tetsurou managed to get right amount of hurt into his voice to make Kei stiffen just for a moment. "Wow, and here I was excited for all-night cuddles with my cute boyfriend."

Tetsurou's rubbed at his hip gently and comfortingly, if not a little hesitantly since Kei wasn't always the most receptive to physical affection even in private. "Kei," Tetsurou murmured again, voice soft and kind again, and Kei really wanted to throw a pillow at Tetsurou's face for that. It was unimaginable someone like Tetsurou wanted to hold him like this: an arm awkwardly around Kei's waist, squished under Kei's side, and with Kei's back snugly pressed up against Tetsurou's chest.

"Kei," Tetsurou repeated, breathing against Kei's ear as he moved his head about until his lips met the back of Kei's head.

He said the name like it was precious, something important and magnificent; he said it as reverently as any fool in love possibly could.  _Kei_  sounded like a whisper of promise, of calm winds and steady boat in the seas that made up their relationship.

Fuck.

"Stop that," Kei wasn't entirely above whining, as long as he could make Tetsurou stop making him feel things he wasn't used to feeling. Apathy was easier; it was something he knew and had forced upon himself before. Apathy was a safety blanket — but  _these_  feelings were a vulnerability, one that he wasn't comfortable yet.

"Sorry, sorry," Tetsurou laughed into Kei's blond hair, sounding giddy, and Kei thought that if it hadn't before, his heart definitely beat harder now. "I just really like saying your name, y'know? Now that I can."

"It's not that big a deal…" Kei muttered, voice fading when Tetsurou kissed at the back of his neck once, then twice.

The thing about Tetsurou's kisses, though? They made Kei melt into a pathetic puddle; this time, too, his tensed up posture relaxed and he finally pulled his face up from the pillow he had been breathing into for the last moments.

"Mmm," Tetsurou hummed, satisfied with the subtle reaction he got, "it is to me, though. Tsukki's good and all, cute as hell, but I love Kei."

"…What."  _You did not just say that, oh my god._

Tetsurou seemed to realize his mistake, considering the shuddering and sharp intake of breath and the flustered utterance in return. "I meant the name, the name!"

"Very convincing,  _Tetsurou_ ," Kei turned himself around just enough to be able to squint at his boyfriend and to show off his smirk, though it lost some of its edge when the only source of light were the street lamps outside. The reaction was even more ridiculous than Kei had pictured it to be: a shuddering breath, followed by a tight hug and a kiss near Kei's lips because apparently Tetsurou's aim wasn't as good outside volleyball court.

"Kuroo-san," Kei groaned as their knees bumped against each other. "Kuroo-san, calm down already."

Tetsurou stilled soon after, mouth still insistently trailing Kei's face, and shaky hands rubbing up and down the back of Kei's loose, thin shirt. Kei tried really hard to ignore the fact that Tetsurou was practically naked, save for his underwear.

The relative darkness made it easier.

And Tetsurou's kisses distracted him, too; loving touches on his chin, cheeks and nose, all the way up to his forehead and temples, each of them a silent reassurance that Tetsurou liked him just as much as Kei liked Tetsurou, even though Kei wasn't vocal about it most of the time.

"Ugh, you're stalling," Kei complained when Tetsurou still avoided his mouth, wrinkling his nose as long strands of black hair tickled at his face. "Annoying." It wasn't, but he wasn't about to say he appreciated the sense of intimacy in Tetsurou's gestures and movements, or that he kind of liked how Tetsurou mouthed words against his pulse point and later jaw.

"You know," Tetsurou's breath tingled on Kei's lips, but the older boy didn't move in for the kiss yet, "your name is pretty, right? Means firefly, yeah?"

"Well," Kei disagreed with the unnecessary compliment, but whatever, "it does mean that…"

"It also explains the reason as to," Tetsurou smiled at Kei, and suddenly the night was much brighter and his shirt much hotter, "how you light up my world so brilliantly."

"You did not," Kei groaned in utter disbelief, something inside him melting again and heat growing on his face, and struggled with his words just out of sheer incredulity, "you did not just quote One Direction at me, Kuroo Tetsurou."

"Hey," Tetsurou huffed, "nothing is truly original anymore, anyway."

"Oh my god, you actually did. I can't believe you."

"Just stating the objective truth, Kei," Tetsurou hummed, not sounding ashamed in the least, and Kei just couldn't find it in himself to push Tetsurou off the bed even after that ridiculous quote.

"There's absolutely nothing objective about that."  _Asshole_ , Kei was half-inclined to add, but he couldn't bring himself to. Not when he saw Tetsurou looking at him with unguarded fondness.

Tetsurou always told Kei how attractive he was, but…  _holy shit, look at that face._

"It's objective 'cause everyone can see it," Tetsurou said. "You can, too, if you pay attention to it, Tsuk— Kei," he corrected himself when the habit of calling Kei Tsukki emerged.

Kei thought about the statement for a moment in silence, awkwardly wriggling his arm so that he could bring a hand into Tetsurou's hair and subtly touch his face. Skin wasn't all that soft, but it felt nice against Kei's fingertips — jaw, cheekbone, the side of Tetsurou's head.

Tetsurou looked at Kei quietly, staying still when Kei's hand wandered and stroked at his face affectionately.

"I guess," Kei said at length, eyes half-lidded as he glanced at Tetsurou's lips, a little thicker than his own. "You are rather obvious in that way."  _Like a lovesick idiot,_ he thought, but there was nothing malicious behind it. Nothing but exasperated affection for Tetsurou, who had coaxed Kei's feelings (for Tetsurou) out of where Kei had thought he had buried them.

"Do you mind?"

"…No."

Tetsurou grinned at him and leaned in to do what he should have done many minutes ago. Kei smiled faintly against Tetsurou's lips, his chest aching with the overwhelming number of emotions that mixed into a one big blur Kei figured could, at some point, turn into what other people referred to as love.

Maybe he was already falling there.

**Author's Note:**

> i feel so sappy and just  
> it's 5 am and it's probably very sloppy im so sorry


End file.
